Books | Hole In The Donut Cultural Travel

Finding the Right Plug for My Laptop and Other Technical Headaches Solved

Published February 19, 2011 | By Barbara Weibel

As I prepared to move on to Thailand, my brain started clicking through checklists. Still possible to get a 30-day visa on arrival? Check. iPhone unlocked and ready for a foreign SIM cards for cheap overseas calls? Check. Adapter that would allow me to charge my electronics in Thailand? Um, no. These days, it’s not the security checkpoints or bad airline food that causes stress, it’s staying on top of the technology needed to work overseas.

The Ultimate Tech Guide for Travelers, by Foxnomad

There is a great deal of confusion surrounding the use of personal electronic equipment in foreign countries. With the exception of large appliances like washing machines, in the U.S. electrical receptacles (plugs) are wired for 120V; most other countries in the world, however, run on 220-240V, so to use electronic goods manufactured in the U.S. overseas, the first necessity is a converter that steps down the current. Additionally, every country has adopted a different design for its receptacles (plugs), so an adapter is necessary to make U.S. style flat pin plugs compatible with two-hole round pin plugs used in Asia, for example.

Fortunately, this whole issue has been simplified for me. The only equipment I need to charge is my Macbook Pro laptop, iPhone, and Canon camera battery, and all three have built-in converters. Figuring out which adapters I need is also a breeze these days, courtesy of Wikipedia, which has a comprehensive article on the subject, complete with photos of all the different types of plugs.

However, the question of charging electrical equipment is just the tip of the iceberg, technologically speaking, when traveling. What’s the best international calling program? How do you protect your private passwords when using an Internet cafe? What’s the best way to handle finances and currency exchange when traveling? How do you back up your valuable photos so you don’t risk losing them in the event of equipment failure or theft? If I researched all these questions I’d never have time to travel.

Fortunately, I don’t have to. My friend, Anil Polat, who is owner and editor of the popular Foxnomad Travel Tech blog, recently wrote a book about this subject, The Ultimate Tech Guide For Travelers. Polat is eminently qualified to author this manual, as he was a full-time computer security consultant making and breaking systems for some of the biggest companies in the world prior to becoming a digital nomad like me. He guarantees that travelers Continue reading →

Posted in Travel Technology |

Tagged Books, digital nomad, foxnomad, guide, Technology, Travel |

8 Comments

Amazon Reveals New Kindle – Perfect for Travelers

Published October 15, 2009 | By Barbara Weibel

Amazon.com has just introduced a new addition to their Kindle family of wireless reading devices: Kindle with U.S. and International Wireless. With this new Kindle, I can receive books, newspapers, and magazines wirelessly while at home or abroad in over 100 countries. Whether I’m in New York, Paris, Sao Paulo, Mumbai, Beijing, Tokyo, or Sydney, I can think of a book and be reading it in less than 60 seconds.

Carry around the Kindle or all these books?

I can’t believe I don’t already have one of these! I lug around at least three paperbacks in my backpack when I travel long term. When I’ve finished reading one, I either trade with other travelers or exchange it for one in a hostel paperback exchange library. Unfortunately, the quality of the books I receive in return are never as good as those I trade in. Kindle would solve this problem for me while also eliminating a lot of weight in my pack. I also love the idea of buying travel guides in electronic form, because I inevitably leave the hard copies behind when I leave a country, simply to eliminate weight, and then have to buy the guide book again when I revisit that country.

Amazon’s new Kindle with U.S. and International Wireless is priced at $279Â and can be pre-ordered today for Continue reading →

Posted in Travel tips |

Tagged Amazon.com, Books, electronic reader, Kindle, Travel, wireless |

13 Comments

Moon Tahiti – Another Great Guidebook

Published September 19, 2009 | By Barbara Weibel

Moon Tahiti Guide Book

Several months ago, author David Stanley offered to send me a copy of his guide book “Moon Fiji,” for which I wrote a glowing review. Since I was so impressed, Stanley offered to send me Moon Tahiti for review as well.

Travel guides, while unquestionably useful, are hardly the kind of books one chooses for an afternoon of leisurely reading. Usually, when heading for a new destination, I throw a guide in my pack and never even crack it until I arrive. Upon arrival I use my guide to identify budget accommodations, vegetarian restaurants, and attractions worth seeing. But I never actually read them and, because they are heavy, almost always leave them behind at the conclusion of my trip.

Stanley’s guides are different. He has traveled the South Pacific so extensively that they beg to be read from cover to cover, and Moon Tahiti is no exception. Tahiti is just one of 118 islands in French Polynesia, a nation that encompasses a vast ocean area 18 times the size of California; any traveler who had not previously visited the area would be hard pressed to determine which islands are most worth a visit. As with his last guide, my favorite part of Moon Tahiti is in the very front of the book, where Stanley outlines seven, ten, and 14 day suggested itineraries that have been designed to coordinate with the schedules of local airlines and boats, many of which serve the outlying islands only once or twice a week. These itineraries alone, which could save hours or even weeks of research and planning, make Moon Tahiti well worth its modest price of $13.57 at Amazon.com.

Those on a budget will find this guide to be an especially valuable resource. Tahiti is a fairly expensive destination, thus Stanley’s thorough inventory of Continue reading →

Posted in Travel writing |

Tagged Books, Bora Bora, David Stanley, diving, guides, Marquesas, Moon Tahiti, Moorea, Society Islands, South Pacific, Travel, vacations, writing |

15 Comments

A Rotten Person Travels The Caribbean – One Of the Funniest Travel Books Ever Written

Published September 3, 2009 | By Barbara Weibel

A Rotten Person Travels The Caribbean, by Gary Buslik

A Rotten Person Travels The Caribbean by Gary Buslik, is an hysterically funny, make you choke on laughter, make tears run down your cheeks, novel about a lifetime of Caribbean travel.

I actually met Gary Buslik – briefly – at a gathering of travel bloggers. For some unknown reason, he decided that I would be a perfect candidate to review his travel narrative. I receive many such requests; sadly most of them turn out to be poorly written novels full of bad grammar and misspellings that leave me wondering what the point was. Not so with Buslik’s effort. From the moment I opened the front cover, I couldn’t put it down. I read most of it in a day, sitting in my favorite coffee shop while willfully ignoring the other patrons, who stared at me each time I laughed out loud – which was often.

Buslik’s singularly cynical life view – he is not kidding when he calls himself a rotten person – translates into some of the funniest stories I have ever read. While I don’t doubt for a moment that the stories are true (I believe he actually peed on Idi Amin and has discovered the secret of chicken rectums), but after reading chapters describing trips taken with his wife I need convincing that he’s been married to the same woman for more than 20 years. Whether his wife is mythical or just has a lot thicker skin than I do, their marital travels (and fights over potential trips) result in some gut-splitting situations.

If you want a good read that is guaranteed to make you laugh, buy A Rotten Person Travels The Caribbean (see link to Amazon.com below), but do not – I repeat DO NOT – try to read it while drinking coffee or you’ll be snorting java through your nostrils.

Buy Buslik’s book at Amazon.com

Posted in Travel writing |

Tagged A Rotten Person Travels The Caribbean, Books, Gary Buslik, Humor, reading, Travel, writing |

15 Comments

A Year Of Dancing Dangerously

Published April 7, 2009 | By Barbara Weibel

Lydia Raurell has always loved to dance. Like so many little girls, she dreamed of becoming a fairy ballerina. When she was chosen to perform in the children’s Corps de Ballet it seemed that her dream might come true, but after two years her dance instructor said that her bone structure was too fragile to go into pointe and her parents refused to pay for additional lessons.

A Year of Dancing Dangerously by Lydia Raurell

Raurell didn’t return to dance until her late twenties, when she ran across an advertisement from a dance studio that offered a free Tango lesson. Although she couldn’t afford additional lessons, that free introduction to Tango rekindled her passion for dance. It took another ten years before she returned to that very same studio, finally able to afford lessons. She threw herself headlong into the world of dance, but at the end of a year realized that her life was out of balance – she had gone back to college to pursue the degree she’d never completed and both her studies and her family were suffering from lack of attention. Again she walked away. Little did she know it would be many years before she had another opportunity to pursue her lifelong passion.

Twenty danceless years later, at age 54, Raurell picked up the local paper and read an ad that said “Walk in Monday, dance out Friday.” By that time, her life had changed immensely. Raurell’s son was raised, her home paid off, and sheÂ had the support of a loving husband who encouraged her to fulfill her dream. Continue reading →

Posted in Authentic lives |

Tagged A Year of Dancing Dangerously, Authentic lives, ballroom dancing, Books, joy, Lydia Raurell, passion |

Moon Fiji: Best Travel Guide Book Ever

Published March 24, 2009 | By Barbara Weibel

Moon Fiji Guide Book

Most people who travel a lot – especially budget travelers – have at one time or another invested in a guide book. Lonely Planet and Rough Guides are well known names in the genre; less well known are the Moon guide books. In fact, I had never before read a Moon guide until a copy of Moon Fiji came my way, courtesy of author David Stanley.

I have never actually read a travel guide. It usually gets stuck it in my backpack and pulled out for reference when I’m looking for an affordable place to stay, a decent meal, or to figure out which sights are must sees. Moon Fiji, however, is a different kind of guide book. That may be partly due to its author, who has crossed six continents overland and visited 193 of the planet’s 245 countries. For his first trip across the Pacific in 1978, Stanley bought the longest ticket ever issued in Canada by Pan American Airways. Though Stanley has traveled widely and become a specialist on many parts of the world, he keeps returning to his favorite area, the South Pacific.

I read this guide book from cover to cover and I highly recommend purchasing Moon Fiji if you are South Pacific bound. This compact guidebook does everything right. Take, for example, the following examples of what I found within: Continue reading →

Posted in South Pacific travel |